1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a battery cooling duct, intended to cool high-voltage parts of environmentally friendly vehicles (e.g. a hybrid vehicles, an electric vehicles, and a fuel cell vehicles), such as a battery, an inverter, or a Low Voltage DC-to-DC Converter (LDC), using air from the interior of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since an environmentally friendly vehicle are often driven using a high-voltage battery (a hybrid vehicle, however, is driven using both an internal combustion engine and a battery) whereas conventional internal combustion engine vehicles are driven merely using mechanical force from a fuel powered engine, environmentally friendly vehicles are provided with a plurality of high-voltage parts. It is important to maintain a proper temperature because the performance of high-voltage parts, including the battery, varies depending on the temperature of the parts. Since high-voltage parts continuously generate heat when the vehicle is being operated, there is a risk that the parts will be damaged, broken and malfunction due to the overheating of the parts unless they are separately cooled.
Hence, a cooling system is mounted to allow the high-voltage parts to maintain the proper temperature and offer the highest degree of efficiency. Particularly, it is important to cool the battery because the vehicle is drive train is powered by the battery. Since the battery usually operates at an optimal efficiency at a temperature in the range of 20° C. to 40° C., it is important to maintain this temperature in order for the battery to maintain the highest possible degree of efficiency. However, when an air conditioning system is separately mounted on the vehicle, the architecture and configuration becomes more complicated, and incurs an additional cost on the part of the manufacture and indirectly on the customer.
The interior temperature of the vehicle is often times controlled by a occupant, and is kept within 20° C. to 40° C., which allows the vehicles occupants to maintain a certain level of comfort. Since the interior air of the vehicle is often maintained within a predetermined temperature range that is optimal for cooling the battery, a battery may be cooled using the interior air of the vehicle without any need for a separate air conditioning system.
Conventionally, the interior air of the vehicle is suctioned by a suction port of a cooling device sometimes located on a lower portion of the right or left sides of a rear seat within the vehicle, and is fluidly communicated along a passageway that extends to the battery. Since the passageway extends from the lower forward facing portion of through a central portion thereof to a location under the battery mounted under a trunk, the passageway typically contains an angled portion which causes an increase in pressure loss and a decrease in efficiency
One option is to dispose the duct between the rear seat and a floor panel. A cover configured to prevent damage to the duct is mounted on an upper surface of the duct in this embodiment. However, in this design, although the passageway is simpler than the conventional duct, the number of assembly processes required to install the duct is increased and additional costs are incurred because of the required protective cover.
The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the understanding of the background of the present invention, and is not intended to mean that the present invention falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.